Henry t



gnitrh gems igttitttt @ffirr.

HENRY T. CARTER, 'O F ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI. Letters Patent No. 73,295, dated January 14., 1868.

IMPROVED GAR-TRUCK.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, HENRY T. CARTER, of the city and county of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improved Oar-Truck, of which the following is a full,.clear, and exact description, reference being had to the annexed drawing, making a part of this specification, in which- I Figure 1 represents a top view of my invention.

Figure 2 represents a transverse sectional view of fig. 1, at a 6.

Similar letters indicate like parts.

The object of my invention-is to produce a car-truck which, by its peculiar construction, may be readily adjusted to suit railroads of any gauge.

It consists of two frames, A A, fig. 1, to which are fixed the axle-boxes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, fig. 1, and 3 4 7 8, fig. 2, the frames being connected by the parallel motion, 13 13. Two rods, cl (1, pass through these frames transversely, and also a bar, e, figs. 1 and 2, which latter passes through two iron projections, :20 11:, fig. 2, beneath the frames and between the wheels. There is also the usual cross-beam, H, figs. 1 and 2, passing under the straps ff, figs. 1 and 2. Each wheel has an axle to itself, revolving in eight bearings, four of which are shown at 3 4 7 S, fig. 2. The truck being adjusted to the desired gauge, the set-screws or keys g'g'gg' of the rods dd, and also those of the cross-beam H at k 7:, and those of the bar a, as shown at m m, fig. 2, are forced home, thus fixing firmly the beam, rods, and bar, upon which they respectively act. Now, if it be desired to change the gauge of the truck for the-purpose of running on a different 1oad, a set of converging rails, with guard-rails on the inner side of each, may be used, from one end or the other of which the car may be run, according as it is desired to change to a narrower or broader gauge, first having loosened or removed the setscrews or keys. Having attained the desiredgauge, the screws or keys are again tightened, as before described. The rods (2 :1, together with the cross-beam H, upon which the car rests, and the parallel motion, will insure the parallelism of the frames, while the bar a below will keep the wheels in their proper perpendicular position. In construction, I design to have a friction-roller-.of steel around the pins 0 o 0 0', fig. 1, to facilitate the sliding movement of the ends of the parallel motion during the adjustment of the truck.

The advantages of my truck are obvious, since by its use any car may be run on a road of any gauge, and readily run from a narrow gauge to a broad, or vice versa, with very little delay, thus saving all expense of transhipm ent on through freights. Each working independently will. greatly facilitate the passage of a. car around a curve, by preventing the slipping of the inner wheel, and thereby prevent the wear uphn the track caused by such slipping. v a

I do not claim to be the first inventor of the device of using converging rails mentioned above, nor do I claim to be such of car-wheels working independently of each other, but.

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to-secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A car-truck, constructed as described, with braces or bars'B 13, having slotted extremities connected by pins or bolts, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In'combination with the above, I claim the sliding bar H, rods d d and e, and their connections, substantially as described.

HENRY T. CARTER.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL S. Born, Jossrn DICKSON. 

